Woman I gave scholarship to her son sold her vote for N14,000; Bayelsa voters not ready for change: Labour’s Udengs Eradiri

“We have a long way to go with this country and money politics, I thought I had found a solution but I was wrong, I did not come into this race to buy votes,” Mr Eradiri said.

Peoples Gazette • November 11, 2023

Udengs Eradiri [Photo Credit : Facebook]

Udengs Eradiri, Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate for today’s governorship election, said he was overwhelmed by the level of vote buying in the poll.

Mr Eradiri, who spoke at Agudama-Ekpetiama after voting, said that voters approached him to negotiate, but he declined.

“I had thought my message against money politics would have tracking with the people but I was wrong. I was deeply disappointed, I was wrong.

“My greatest disappointment was with a woman from this community to whom I offered a scholarship to her son, she sold her vote for N14,000 and I was disappointed,” he said.

The LP çanfidate regretted that the electorate who had welcomed his ideas made a u-turn and opted for money.

“We have a long way to go with this country and money politics. I thought I had found a solution but I was wrong; I did not come into this race to buy votes,” Mr Eradiri said.

He said that votes freely traded freely to the highest bidder from between N12,000 and N40,000 per vote, adding that he does not have the financial muscle to match the dominant parties.

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.